Answering the most difficult questions for Catholics today

Statistics show that the top reason for young people are leaving the Church is that their questions about the faith do not get answered.

They have questions about God, the afterlife, seemingly unanswered prayers, other religions, morality, and science. And these questions, usually shaped by secular sources hostile to religion, put Catholicism on the defensive. When young people don’t find answers, they grow disillusioned. They slowly withdraw from the Church until they stop showing up at all.

In his new book 100 Tough Questions for Catholics: Common Obstacles to Faith Today (Sophia Institute Press, 2025), David G. Bonagura, Jr. transforms 100 hot-button questions from obstacles to pathways of faith.

Catholic World Report spoke with Bonagura about how he responded to these pressing questions.

Catholic World Report: Where did you get the idea for this book?

David Bonagura: Answering impromptu questions about the faith is my favorite part of teaching. One day, in the aftermath of the pandemic, I was listening to a homily from Bishop Robert Barron, who pointed to studies that indicated young people are leaving the faith because they are not having their questions answered. Suddenly a bell went off in my head. That week I gave my students blank sheets of paper, with instructions to write, without including their names, any questions they had about God or religion, and I would answer one or two to start every class for the semester.

This quickly became the students’—and my own—favorite part of class. I repeated the practice in subsequent semesters.

After a couple of years, I had a stack of questions in hand, and realized that many more Catholics, young and not so young, have the same questions and could benefit from frank, concise answers. So I decided to take the 100 of the “hot-button questions” and put them into what became this book.

CWR: What are some of these questions?

Bonagura: Some of them are eternal questions concerning the compatibility of God with the realities of evil and suffering, the existence of free will, the multiplicity of religions, and the person of Jesus Christ. Others are more attune to the problems of the world today: the relationship of faith and science, whether extra-terrestrial life fits into the Christian vision, the authenticity of the Bible and its stories, and sexual morality. With this last, homosexuality and the transgender phenomenon receive a good deal of attention.

What’s most striking to me, though, is not the questions themselves but how they were asked: more than a few begin, “How do we know that….?” People today are looking for assurance for their beliefs; they want to be sure that what they believe is true. It’s as if they are eager to believe, but some hang-ups keep them from fully embracing our Lord.

CWR: How did you go about answering the questions?

Bonagura: I grouped them by theme, so they are divided into 14 chapters that have an arc to them. The first concerns God and human beings; the antepenultimate and penultimate chapters concern the afterlife; the final chapter, entitled “Getting Back on Track with God,” explains how believers can live their faith even if they have been away for some time. My answers are direct: wherever possible, questions begin with “Yes” or “No” before launching into an explanation.

In the introduction I offer an analogy of a tree to help understand how Church teachings are all connected to each other since they all grow from the same trunk: the deposit of faith, which is God’s revelation to human beings through the incarnation of His Son. Because of this fact, many answers to particular questions include a cross-reference to other questions. These are not 100 isolated questions; they are all connected insofar as they point to the one God who is the source of all being.

As I note in my conclusion, entitled “Now What?”, my answers are intended as “first steps” to loving Christ more deeply. Certainly, more details can be found to flesh out all of my answers. But my goal is not to give definitive answers. It is to clear obstacles some more people can have a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. The answers lead to the truth, and God is truth.

CWR: What were the hardest questions to answer?

Bonagura: Certainly the perennial questions pertaining to what is known as “the problem of evil”: How can a good God allow evil and suffering in the world?

This is so difficult to answer for two reasons: evil and suffering affect us acutely and because we cannot see the fullness of God’s plan that allows evil to exist within His providence. To accept evil in the world requires faith, which is a difficult ask for someone outside the Church. In the book I offer the sufferings which Jesus willingly undertook as the surest proof that we can trust God on this, for through Jesus’ suffering He brought about redemption and eternal life in Heaven.

CWR: What is your hope for this book?

Bonagura: Everyone has questions about our beautiful Faith, some more than others. For those who believe and practice the faith regularly, I hope this book fortifies their faith and motivates them to trust the Church and to enter more deeply into their relationship with God.

For those who believe but have fallen away from the Church, I hope this book showcases the beauty of our faith and how the Church, the Mass, and the sacraments are necessary to experience this beauty. For those whose belief is tepid or shriveled, I hope this book shows that the Catholic faith is both perfectly rational and a tremendous gift that helps us return the incredible love that God has for us. In clearing obstacles to faith, we find our fulfillment in God, the author of all that is.